The Accidental Buddhist: Mindfulness, Enlightenment, and Sitting Still, American Style - Softcover

Dinty W. Moore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385492677 ISBN 13: 9780385492676

Publisher: Harmony, 1999

Synopsis

The Accidental Buddhist is the funny, provocative story of how Dinty Moore went looking for the faith he'd lost in what might seem the most unlikely of places: the ancient Eastern tradition of Buddhism. Moore demystifies and explains the contradictions and concepts of this most mystic-seeming of religious traditions. This plain-spoken, insightful look at the dharma in America will fascinate anyone curious about the wisdom of other cultures and other religions. 

Cutting through religious jargon and abstract concepts, Moore explains in clear terms why Buddhism is becoming part of popular culture. He has the rare ability to be at once sincere about religion and good-humored about the human condition. The Accidental Buddhist never takes itself too seriously—which, as Moore discovers, Buddhists aren’t supposed to do, even when they are mindful, enlightened, and sitting perfectly still.

“Moore’s hilarious and sometimes irreverent look at Buddhism is a perfect primer for the budding Buddhist.”—Publishers Weekly

“[Moore’s] witty and candid ‘regular guy’ approach to these experiences is entertaining and comforting, and his conclusions are right on target.”—Booklist 

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Packing a blessedly down-to-earth sense of humor, Dinty Moore is the perfect scout for the new frontiers of American Buddhism. (Rodger Kamenetz, author of The Jew in the Lotus)

Buddhism is on America's mind. TV commercials embrace it: Michael Jordan runs to the top of a Tibetan mountain to find the true meaning of sports drinks. A hillside of Buddhist monks meditates on hard drives. The famous (like Richard Gere and Tiger Woods) fight stress with it. From coaches to cops, from stockbrokers to schoolchildren, Americans are learning to love the lotus position.

But many of us are more curious than we are committed. Dinty Moore was, too. So he decided to find out what exactly was going on. Are we becoming Buddhists behind our own backs? Why is this ancient, Asian religion suddenly such a big part of American pop culture?

Moore set out to see Buddhism for himself by attending Buddhist retreats, meeting the monks face to face. Before long he was hooked on breathing. And what the Buddhist monks were telling him was starting to make good sense.

With humor and humility, Moore takes us into the physical and spiritual geography of Buddhism American-style: from Change Your Mind Day (a sort of annual Buddhist Woodstock in Central Park), to a weekend at a mountain retreat for corporate executives earning effective ways to cope with stress, to a visit with a Zen teacher holding classes in an old Quaker farmhouse, to a meeting with a Catholic priest who's also a Zen master.

Too timid to dip your own toe into the still waters of Zen? Dinty Moore does it for you in THE ACCIDENTAL BUDDHIST, an utterly engaging book by a writer who started out wanting to chart cultural change and ended up changing his own life.

From the Back Cover:

I am an accidental Buddhist. I never intended to find a new religion, I was just passing curious. I started to notice Buddhism everywhere. BUSINESS WEEK was writing long articles about meditation sessions in major corporations and on Wall Street. Schoolchildren and cops on the beat were being encouraged to breathe as a way to fight stress. Buddhist monasteries and retreat centers were flourishing in out-of-the-way places, and NEWSWEEK declared that America may be on the verge of Buddhadharma" I wanted to know what was going on, so I went on retreats myself and interviewed the key players. Before long, I, too, was hooked. I hadn't counted on actually liking it." -- Dinty W. Moore

About this edition

• Publisher: Harmony
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0385492677
• ISBN 13: 9780385492676
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224